


Family

by somekindaspacecadet



Series: Decamber 2020 [1]
Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Academy Era, Decamber, I didnt just straight up forget vansell existed, Multi, The Deca - Freeform, family bonding time, surprise! you're my mom now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:41:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27833965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somekindaspacecadet/pseuds/somekindaspacecadet
Summary: Theta's research into an ancient Earth holiday sparks a discussion about mothers.
Relationships: Millenia/Rallon (Doctor Who), Millennia (Doctor Who)/Rallon (Doctor Who), The Doctor | Theta Sigma & The Master | Koschei (Doctor Who: Academy Era), The Doctor | Theta Sigma/The Master | Koschei (Doctor Who: Academy Era)
Series: Decamber 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2037277
Comments: 3
Kudos: 20





	Family

**Author's Note:**

> Here it is... day one of Decamber... credit to @starryeyedgazer for starting this challenge!

After classes concluded for the day, the Deca's study room buzzed with quiet activity. Pencils scratched, tea was sipped, and laughter bounced across bad jokes. The Prydon Academy’s top ten students had the small space all to themselves, and although its four, windowless walls hadn’t been built with much personality, the group had left their irreversible mark over the centuries they’d called it home. Rugs and cushions layered the floor in colorful pools. Hanging lamps illuminated an eclectic mix of furniture and swathes of artwork on every wall, except the one covered in a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf, which housed a catalogue of everything from textbooks to diaries to classic novels and purple prose. Theta Sigma wedged himself further into the corner between the bookshelf and the fraying yellow armchair, wiggling his elbows to accommodate the heavy book splayed across his knees. He furrowed his eyebrows together and let the sound of Drax giggling at Jelpax slip past him.

The book was written in French. An Earth language-- a human language, full of round letters sprinkled with accent marks and phonemes that melted together on Theta’s tongue as he mouthed the words. He wasn’t as good at French yet as he’d like to be, but it still had an appeal undeniably stronger than other languages he’d learned. This monster of a text had been a lucky find on the illicit detour he’d dragged Koschei along to in driving class last week, a whole five hundred and seventy pages detailing Earth holidays across different cultures and time periods. The book only went up to the Earth year of 3001, so he’d have to go scrounging for more once he’d swallowed up every sentence in this one. It was enough to keep him occupied for a few more days at least.

The study room door clunked into its frame, startling Theta’s eyes up from the page. Koschei tugged his formal collar off at the same time as Ushas dropped a pile of notebooks onto a side table with a huff.

“So, is Borusa going to hang us at dawn?” Drax lifted an eyebrow at the two of them from his position on the floor with his legs propped against the wall.

Koschei rolled his eyes. “I think he got it worked out of his system. Just needed to spend a good half an hour degrading us. I’m sure he feels nice and refreshed now.”

“That man,” Ushas hissed through her teeth, “is a pathetic excuse for an administrator.”

“Maybe if you two weren’t making heart eyes at each other over your test tubes…” Magnus teased with a grin from over his mug.

“Disgusting! How dare you imply--”

“It was a joke, Squishes.” Koschei smirked back at Magnus behind Ushas’s back and slipped down into the armchair next to Theta. “But if you ever want to make any heart eyes with me, well, I’m just a room away. Knock anytime.”

“Aw. Leave her alone, Kos.” Rallon tossed an arm around Ushas’s shoulders and squeezed her into a sideways hug. “She probably saved your ass today. Borusa is terrified of those rats.”

“As he should be.” Ushas scoffed.

Millennia stretched on her toes to slide a book onto a higher shelf. “Let’s not attack anyone with genetically modified animals, hm? I like all of you un-expelled.”

“What about genetically modified plants?”

“No, Mort. Not those either.”

As Mortimus prepared to expound upon the intricacies of his latest plant husbandry endeavor, the smile Koschei reserved for Theta drowned out all the other conversation. Theta helplessly smiled back as Koschei draped a hand over the arm of the chair to shove at his shoulder affectionately. “Hey.”

Theta let himself be swayed by the push. “Hi. Drinking chemistry experiments again?”

“I got Ushas to show me some stuff. Did you know if you mix the right amount of red stuff and blue stuff, you get yellow stuff that smells like shit and fills up the lab and everyone has to evacuate or die slowly in agony?”

“Oh, I can tell you know exactly what you’re talking about.”

Koschei laughed and shrugged. He tapped the page that laid open in Theta’s arms. “That’s what you dragged me to Parrots for?”

“Paris, shithead.”

“Whatever. You’re welcome, by the way.”

“Thanks.” Theta puckered his lips mockingly.

Koschei leaned over the chair to squint at the page. “What’s it about, anyway?”

“Well.” Theta traced a finger over the paragraph he’d just stopped at. “Overall, Earth traditions and rituals and festivals and things like that. But right now I’m reading about an annual celebration called Mother’s Day. It was established in a country called America to encourage people to appreciate their mothers more, I think.”

“Huh.” Koschei propped an arm up on the armrest. “That’s wholesome.”

“Yeah, isn’t it?” Theta couldn’t stop himself from beaming. “People would buy or make their mothers gifts to show their love. And they had these little cards of paper they’d decorate with little pieces of art and write notes on for different holidays, so they’d do that for this one too. It was common to buy your mother a bouquet of flowers, or do her an act of service like cook a meal for her. It was just… really sweet.” He flipped a page and studied an illustration of two humans, presumably a mother and her child, embracing.

“I wish we had celebrations like that here.” Millennia piped up as she made her way to a large cushion on the floor near Theta. Rallon trailed behind her, their fingers entangled, and leaned against her shoulder. She smiled fondly. “I know humans aren’t perfect, but they certainly know a few things about love.”

“Yeah, but what would we even do with a Mother’s Day here?” Mortimus shrugged. “Am I supposed to make the House breakfast? Or take some flowers to the loom?”

Jelpax laughed. “Maybe they’d like that.”

“I don’t know, it’s not too bad of an idea. We might not really do mothers, but I can still think of people from home I’d want to appreciate. People who raised me, you know? Isn’t that more of the point?” Magnus offered.

“Speak for yourself,” Ushas scoffed. “I don’t need to give other people credit for my accomplishments.”

“Yeah, Thete, what did Earth people do on that day if they… didn’t have mothers?” Koschei picked his words carefully.

“I don’t know.” Theta scanned the page. “Maybe they just didn’t do anything to celebrate it at all.”

Drax frowned. “That’s depressing.”

Theta let his eyes drift across the paragraphs. “Yeah.” He sighed.

“What?” Koschei asked, a softness to his tone as he brushed a hand through Theta’s curls.

“Well, I-- you know.” Theta chewed his lip and shrugged. “It just makes me wonder about-- like-- how it could have gone. With my mom.” He laughed. “Stupid.”

“Not at all,” Rallon reassured him. “I’m sure she would have loved celebrating with you.”

“I mean, I don’t know that for sure.” Theta shook his head. “But I won’t ever know, right? At least I have you guys.”

“And Braxiatel,” Koschei joked.

“Oh, no way in Rassilon’s asshole am I getting Brax a bouquet of flowers. He fucking wishes.” Theta laughed, and everyone else laughed with him.

“We could bring Mill and Rallon flowers!” Magnus grinned.

“We’re not your mothers,” Millennia laughed.

“Um, you kind of are,” Drax insisted. “Right, Ushas?”

“I suppose that isn’t entirely inaccurate.”

“Yeah,” Koschei nodded. “You’ve done more for us than our Houses have.”

“Well, I’m flattered. But if Theta wants to do something to honor his mother instead…” Millennia looked at Theta. “I wouldn’t want to disrespect that.”

Theta shook his head. “No. No, I-- I don’t even know who my mother is. You guys have always been here.” A smile slipped onto his face. “I think celebrating Mother’s Day with you would be way better.”

Rallon rested his chin on Millennia’s shoulder. “Come on, you’re going to make me cry.”

“When does Mother’s Day happen?” Koschei asked Theta.

“Well, it’s just a day on the ancient Earth calendar. We could celebrate it whenever we wanted.”

“Mother’s Day will strike when you least expect it,” Drax said, wiggling his fingers at Millennia and Rallon suspensefully.

The room dissolved back into giggles and jokes, and Theta looked on from his corner, the moment of emptiness he’d felt being slowly and surely eclipsed by the laughter of his friends. His family, he thought. His smile still lingering, he flipped to the next tradition described in his book.

“Oh, Kos,” he said with a grin. “Wait until I show you this one.”

“What’s that one called?”

“Valentine’s Day.”

“And what is it supposed to be about?”

Theta smirked. “You’ll find out when you least expect it.”

**Author's Note:**

> My academy era blog is @wild-endeavor and my main is @somekindaspacecadet. Check out my other Deca things while you're here. Thanks for reading <3 <3


End file.
